White foam beads poured out from the box as Hitsui opened it, covering the girl’s feet ankle deep. Inside, held in place by wooden beams was every gun-nuts wet dream; a M134 minigun. From closer inspection it could be seen, that the vehicle-mounted weapon was modified to a hand-held version, provided with belts and harnesses. On the bottom of the box there were two ridiculously large backpacks, holding according to the labels 3000 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition. Judged by the sheer size of the backpacks it was clear, that it wasn’t intended for a normal human being. Maybe this was custom job for one overgrown Primer henchman.Suddenly a painful scream came from the depths of the jungle, followed by burst from the automatic rifles. After the shooting stopped orders were barked, while someone was crying out in agony. It seemed the Primers had at least one of their men severely wounded. A few minutes later someone shouted in horror again, and all guns started to fire, light from muzzle fire flashed among the trees. It was suddenly cut short by an explosion. It was pure chaos from there on; shooting, screaming, and shouting. Two shots from a pistol, and everything went silent again.Snap hove as he looked around on the clearing. All dead. He licked off the blood flowing into his eye. The last one almost got him. The bullet hit him right between the eyes, had it been a steeper angel he would be a goner, but it just ricocheted from his scales and skull, leaving a nasty looking but not serious wound. Snap barely felt it from all the adrenaline in his blood. It was just a just a blunt throbbing on his forehead, the bleeding will stop in a few minutes, and will eventually heal in a couple of days. He took a couple of other hits as well, but they all just grazed him, only two drew blood, but they were already scabbing.Snap slowly moved to the edge of the tree line, and took a look at the drop-point. Nobody there, at least nobody he could see. It was now up to Hitsui and Ben to take whatever they wanted. He didn’t want to show himself to the girl in this condition anyway. He killed people. It was the first time, at least the first time he remembered. In earlier encounters, he didn’t use his teeth and claw, just fists and he rather avoided a fight and made a run for it. So, he finally done it… and it felt… nothing special. No knot in the stomach, no shaking hands, but there was the rush of adrenaline, the thrill of the hunt. It was just like the usual routine of getting food; killing a gazelle and a human being strangely felt quite the same. Did he change that much, or did the world? Killing someone used to be a big deal; even the X-men rather just beat Magneto’s guys into submission. Killing them would have been a permanent solution, but there was morality, the approval of the masses. One had to thread lightly back then, not to use too much force against the other. This was the past. The world was plunged into war, chaos and madness. Morality became second to survival. Things got less complicated. Snap didn’t mind, he somewhat wished that he did, but he couldn’t bother.His stomach started to growl. The half of that rodent wasn’t much, and all this fighting made him quite hungry. Hitsui and Ben seemed to be safe, it was time to get something eat.

"His name is Cora. Cora Kurameka. Or Hardcore, when we're using codenames," Miranda supplied to Kenji with a matter-of-fact tone. She knew that the others would want to have their time to adjust, just as she'd had--seeing their teacher's twin brought back memories that made the loss feel fresh...but his appearance also held hope, insidious as it was. Even if the hope wasn't enough, like for Miranda, then the duty would be.

She cleared her throat softly, trying to stay on task. "So...Mission briefing?"

-Mickey-=Sector 15: Shack=Mickey certainly found himself a bit surprised by the few unexpected arrivals. It was mainly the fact that Minerva had followed him all this way even though he had never made mention of this mission. He didn't really know the details himself just yet, however he knew that he would be doing a favor for a fellow classmate and that would have been enough for him. Normally Mickey didn't want to get Minerva involved with the things he did further inland, travelling with multiple people complicated things when it came to how his powers worked. Simply put, he thought it was a better idea to have her stay and guard their means of travel while he went to do what needed to be done. The man looked over at the girl as she glanced his way, looking at him like a child expecting some kind of punishment for doing something bad. Mickey sighed and let out a soft chuckle, allowing a smile onto his face to show that he wasn't particularly mad about her arrival.

He was just confused that she had gone to that trouble and made those risks, maybe he had been acting strangely and gave her the idea that there was something wrong? Whatever it was the fact that she was there now only meant that she would be helpful in completing their mission. Mickey finally turned his attention towards the man who had suddenly appeared in the shack, a vaguely familiar face that he could remember seeing somewhere at the institute. He couldn't quite put his finger on the name, he hadn't gotten to know the entire staff of the institute as well as many other students. It was less of a shock for Mickey that it may have been for some of the others, however it certainly was a strange turn of events especially considering Mickey's former ties to S.H.I.E.L.D. "Yes, a briefing would be nice... I'd like to know a bit more about what we're gettin' into, ya know?"

The memories blinked at the back of his eyes. Lingering at only some special moments. He was in the back alleys of the ghetto. He was looking at a little boy trying to protect his sister. The boy shouldn't be more than 8, his sister even younger. They both had black hair. The boy stood in front of several Primers, his hand outstreached to protect his sister. They were all taller than him, a sadistic smirk painted on their faces as they looked at them. That sadistic grin pissed Sam off. Sam was shaking, he wanted to help but he couldn't. If he did his identity would be revealed and he would have to return home for planning empty handed. He took several deep breaths, his chest was pounding at the same rhythm as the boy's. Suddenly one of the Primers made a move to grab the boy and shove him away. The boy looked at him, and the primer's hand started turning to Stone, he pulled away immediately and then turned and slapped the boy across the alley. The boy screamed, as he fell against the wall. He fell on his knees unable to get up. The Primers laughed, a cruel laughter. The Primer with the Stone hand wasn't laughing. He continued to move forward towards the girl.

Then a psychic blast froze everyone in place. No one except the boy could move. Sam felt it as well. It was like his blood froze in his veins. As if someone had pinned him in place from the inside. Sam was horrified. He hated psychics. He couldn't recall himself to a projection. Then another presence arrived. It was obvious that this one was far more in control. Where the first psychic attack was raw power summoned on the feeling of survival, this presence made its subtle appearance known to its surroundings, making them feel safe instead of horrified. “Oh, such a power for a young girl” a voice said, and Sam felt the motion in his limbs back again. He couldn't tell if the voice was male or female. It was a strange feeling. He peeked but the only thing he could see was the two kids looking up in the sky in awe. What he noticed was a strange shimmering on the sky above. Sam could only do one thing. He turned around and run.

*

Sam was outside the Ghetto. He was just chilling in his hideout. The corporal projections didn't have the same needs as he. They could go sleepless, without food, as long as the Sam could provide energy. They had all the time in the world. Sam was lying there looking at the stars. A strange feeling of elation came through him as he looked at the stars and wondered what's out there. He closed his eyes for a bit and felt the wind passing over him, its smooth touch giving him a slight and welcome shiver. The smell of wet soil told him that rain was coming. With eyes still closed Sam lifted himself up. A strange giggle sounded from somewhere around him. He opened his eyes trying to locate the source of that strange giggle. He looked around and couldn't see anything. He stood up and walked around. His hideout was basically the top of a rock. He could get here only by transporting with his projections. There was some strange space on the side of the rock that allowed him to take cover when things went bad. But nothing had happened until now. Sam had no direct control of his corporal projections. At the beginning they obeyed him completely. But slowly slowly they formed their own free will. They followed his orders in general but where Sam wanted a constant report of what was going on the projections tried to enjoy their freedom as long as possible. Also take note the closer they were to Sam the more control Sam had on them.

Sam's projection looked down from the hideout. What he saw was something that was rarely seen this era. It was a young couple joyly teasing each other and kissing full with affection. Sam's face flared up. He didn't feel comfortable. But he still watched as the scene became more and more intense. Until Sam's embarassment became too much and he retreated to his hideout. The noise from the couple still reached his ears. And then the rain came and muffled all the noises. In his mind Sam thought that there is still hope. If people still love and flirt, then there is still hope in the hearts of the people.

~Back at Compound 17~

Sam was at the corner of the room with a tired smile curved on his lips. He was trying to keep himself up. His body was here, but his mind was not here. He was sweating, the strain of getting all these memories back inside was more than some people could imagine. He was looking at even more memories. Of people, of areas, of beauty and downfall. They were more than just images. They were impressions, ideas, words, everything came to him. Just like his projections had seen it. He was breathing heavily. He was still watching, still experiencing those memories, again, once more.

One moment he was shivering and then he stopped moving. He shook his head, as if he had a headache and then looked at the clock. Two minutes... Only two minutes had passed but it seemed like hours, days to him. He shivered and went back in his room. He fell on his bed and fell into a deep sleep.

Tag would work with Hiram even if she didn’t know what that would bring. Any chance was better than none. Her mind was made up and her body took over from there.

Tag crouched low, almost hugging the ground and began to move. Through the trees and brush an observant person might have seen something like a breeze or the shadow of a far above bird. Unless that person was a mutant they wouldn’t have heard anything at all.

The camp was fairly sizable, but Tag made her way around in only a few minutes. A couple stops were made as the camp residents wandered too close to Tag’s path, but she soon moved on when they did. Finally, she crouched in a brush just a few yards away from the truck, it was there she saw the complication to Hiram’s plan. There were people standing just next to the truck, talking.

Mutants, soldiers or randoms, Tag wasn’t sure. There was two of them, both adult male. They wore heavy winter clothes that could easily conceal a pistol or some other weapon. As good as Tag’s hearing was she couldn’t make out what they were saying. The distance from the woods to the truck was sizable enough that Tag wasn’t sure she could reach them before they yelled a warning. Worst of all, they didn’t seem to be planning on going anywhere. The two men just stood there occasionally muttering things to one another, breaths coming out in puffs of steam.

If Tag came at the truck from another angle, she could sneak up on the two without them realizing, but if anyone from the camp looked over, they would see her. If she made her way towards the two men directly they would notice immediately and she had no idea what they would do. Maybe they’d think her weak and try to coddle her. Or maybe they’d just shoot her as soon as they saw her.

Tag bit her lip and looked around herself. Trees, sticks and rocks were all she had. That and Debbie, but Debbie would only work up close. Tag got down on her knees and began running her hands over the rocks that littered the ground. Most were too brittle or too small or too large and strangely-shaped. Again, Tag’s mind wandered to Debbie, but her body shuddered at the thought. Finally, Tag’s hands landed on a rock that was just right. Smoothed and curved enough to skip across a lake, but hefty enough to smash a person’s skull.

Tag only need to glance around a few more times to know that she wasn’t going to find another good stone. She had to make do with what she had. Her hands ran over the rock, digging into every notch and groove and counting them. Smooth there, a hole there, rough in one spot, heaviest here. Her mind whirred for a bit and finished with a plan a smarter person probably would have laughed at.

Tag’s body was in control again. She trotted back, putting some distance between herself and the edge of the woods. The rock went up in the air and back in her hand for a few times. She watched it spin and felt its weight whenever she caught it. Tag took a deep breath then her body tensed and she ran forward. Her steps were huge, each one a leap to the next with the weight of every muscle in her. The light from where the trees broke into the camp clearing struck Tag and in a moment that would have done all the Olympic and shotputters in the world proud, she pulled her chest in and twisted all the force of her run into a spin. Somewhere in there the rock lost itself and disappeared. Tag landed on her side from the twist, but she sprang up and started sprinting again. The rock would hit or it wouldn’t, either way Tag had to follow it up.

Tag burst from the treeline just as one of the men standing near the truck collapsed him into a crumpled heap. The other man followed the fall of his companion dumbly, unable to figure out why his friend’s head had spontaneously combusted. The man blinked and his mouth dropped open, inhaling one huge breath.

Three inches of steel named Debbie tore out the man’s neck and the scream died there. A quiet gurgle came out of the man as he fell and Tag stabbed him in the neck again just to be sure.

Tag didn’t take a second to look at her work and moved to the truck. Hiram hadn’t needed to tell Tag how to drive, she had seen the mother do it before often enough to know what went where. Tag fit her body into the chair, hands on the wheel and let her foot fall on the pedal.

The truck lurched forward and like a rampaging adolescent, the truck sped to the treeline. The truck trampled through a bush and then another before finally a tree appeared. Tag stared it down, arms locked rigid on the wheel as the truck slammed straight into it. The world had jumped on Tag and she spun in the air, back slamming against the windshield. Tag blinked and let the world steady itself before trying to move. She made it out of the truck, but winced when she jumped down. The pain swelled from the lower left of her back and a warm liquid that was probably blood was flowing from the crown of her head.

Tag only had to focus on the pain for a moment before it disappeared. Legs and body working well enough, Tag ran away the way she had ran in and soon enough, she was gone.

It was awfully quiet in the whitewashed box Penelope found herself trapped in. She thought she could hear a bit of whirring here and there, maybe some beeping. Perhaps it was nothing; it might've been the memory of the haphazardly constructed machines her now defunct sect of the resistance used to keep at their base haunting her. This certainly wouldn't have been the first time Penny heard the echoes of things she wasn't able to protect. The bubbling carbonation of memories built up into a wistful sigh. Penny was certain she was strong enough, fast enough, clever enough. But somehow, bad things always happened to everyone around her. Was she just bad luck? Maybe it was better if she just kept to herself from now on instead of joining another tragic gang of would-be heroes.

Just as Penny closed her eyes to lose herself in thought, the very wall she had dented only a few seconds and was now leaning on suddenly shifted. Scampering away on all fours while mumbling colorful obscenities, she watched as the once disfigured surface sunk into the black depths of nothingness. Too startled to act, Penny stared at the event with her mouth agape as a new wall took the old one's place. Brand new. As if nothing happened. "W-What the hell..." She carefully crawled up to the wall, slowly raising a finger to poke at it. Hard. Just a regular whitewashed wall. Nothing peculiar about it. But for it to replace the wall so quickly and easily, there must be a whole system of cogs and gears and extra walls. This place was bigger than she thought. She poked it again to make sure her observations were genuine, when the wall shifted once more. Penny could've sworn she heard the ghost of her late mother yelling at her for touching things she didn't recognize, and she crawled backwards whilst murmuring swears.

It seemed to be some sort of monitor, a television or a computer or something. Images flickered like the channels on a TV with an old antenna struggling to find a clear picture. The pictures were of familiar sights and sounds and battles, of happier times and disastrous times, but times that Penny remembered all too well. A slurry of people and places flashed by, and Penny could only sit with her mouth agape wondering where these damned robots found all this footage. She twitched at the automated "Match found", instinctively holding her breath and gripping the wall behind her, leaving slight dents in the whitewashed surface. The face in front of her was one that should have, by all means, be nothing but a red smear on the ground right now. By now the heat of his once living body, or at least the chunks that remained of it, would only have begun to cool. Daniels was dead. She had already come to terms with that. He was an idiot. A handsome idiot that she most definitely had a thing for, but that didn't make him any less of an idiot. He had tried to save a person who didn't need saving, and now he was dead, and she would avenge him and all the other people she cared about who were killed. She couldn't honestly say she was used to it, but it was something she had to accept to survive, a fate she couldn't change, a past she could only learn from. It wasn't even something that needed to be said. So what was this thing staring at her, speaking to her in a monotone, mechanical droll while using the image of one of her dearest companions as a puppet?

A damned robot, that's what it was.

Inhaling, exhaling, and then coughing to keep her voice from cracking, she calmed her nerves and spoke as casually as she could manage. "Um. Greetings. Nice...er...photo-manipulation there, Mr.Roboto. Not to mean any offense or nothing, but it's kinda in the uncanny valley. I-If you don't mind, I'd rather just talk to a robot." Penny continued leaning back against the wall behind her as severely as she could. "So...uh...are you just saying hi or what? Is this like an introduction video? Actually, why all the fancy stuff? If you know I'm a mutant, why am I not...well, dead?"

Last edited by Deena on Sat Dec 17, 2011 2:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Relieved by the look and chuckle she got from Mickey, she sighed in relief and turned her attention, like everyone else, to the guy that was about to give them the low down on what was about to happen. She was kind of glad that Mickey didn't make a scene or send her back...not that she had expected him to do so, but in her mind, the fear of being left behind was always a catalyst to exaggerating things. Now that she knew why the bad feeling was so prevalent, she was glad that she had followed Mickey. At least she wouldn't be stuck on the boat this time. It really had bothered her to stay behind all the time, despite knowing that it was logical for someone to stay behind and guard their way of escape and whatnot. But she still somehow, even childishly, wanted to come along for the adventure. She didn't think that she'd ever forgive herself if something really bad happened to Mickey while she wasn't around. There weren't too many of her friends alive, and she didn't know what she'd do if any more disappeared or left her.

The arrival of the previous staff member of the institute didn't really ring any bells with her. Minerva didn't really get to know very much of the staff, only those in the hospital wing and the teachers that she had directly: which wasn't much. She didn't say anything in response to what the guy said, but listened to Mickey and Miranda, who basically said everything that she had been wanting to. Hearing Miranda's verbal speech was a little odd to her since they had been talking telepathically a few moments ago.

Ben had barely made it passed his outer perimeter of traps before he heard the ringing of gunfire deeper into the jungle. He looked back and soon more gunfire and shouting. Ben didn't actually start moving until an explosion rocked the area that the sounds were coming from. He knew that if Hisui had been found, he wouldn't have time to trek back through the jungle on foot. Instead he lifted himself off the ground and headed to where the smoke and dust was emanating from. He stayed as close to the tree tops as he could to try and stay out of the detection range of any sentinels that might be patrolling the sky in that area, but moved quickly.

Ben could smell the ocean breeze now, but the mix of that with gunpowder and blood was enough to make him a little lightheaded. The scene that he arrived to seemed straight out of a horror film or video game. Had he not been hardened by the atrocities he'd witnessed in this Age of Apocalypse, it might have turned his stomach. Considering they were using conventional weapons, he figured that the slaughtered Primers were either weak or not combat oriented. At first he'd thought an escaped beast from the zoo might have been responsible. Each person had been ripped open at the throat despite their other gruesome injuries it seemed, but after seeing a guy with large foot prints in his chest cavity, his thoughts returned to the elusive creature that stalked the jungle.

"May be this was the work of the same thing that carved up the carcass from before?" he thought. No matter the guilty party, the butchering of Primers was a good thing in Ben's eyes. A group of brainwashed mutants could be just as dangerous as a sentinel, but this creature still unnerved him a bit. Was it simply a case of accidental discovery, or was this thing hunting the inhabitants of the island?

Hisui's face paled as she saw what lay inside the box. It was by far the largest gun she had ever seen in her life. That thing could probably clear out the jungle easily. So there was no way Hisui could let the Primers have something like that. It was going to be difficult to deal with it all though, but the Primers could come back for the box soon, so she doubted she had time to make multiple trips. Taking off and unzipping her backpack, she removed a small length of rope that she kept in case of emergencies. She knew the Primers would probably just send for another one of these monsters, so trying to hide or destroy it wasn't going to work. No, she was going to have to take it to Ben. He could decide what to do with it. Leaning over the edge of the box, it took her quite a bit of effort for her to haul each of the two bags out from underneath the impossibly large gun, but when she did, she tied them together and looped the leftover rope around her waist. Dragging the bags was the only way she could see getting everything away at once.

Frowning at the box, Hisui realized there was no way she could lift the gun out of the container. Looking at the side in front of her, she began tearing the side out of the box. It took her a few precious minutes, but she managed to get through the siding. Kneeling down, she got the straps over her shoulders and buckled the harness together. Immediately the weight of the gun almost pulled her backwards. It took her a few tries to get standing and on her way. Each step was tough, and the bags dragged long furrows in the sand. To hide what was really causing the movement, Hiaui added an illusion of two sea turtles crawling up the beach on top of where the bags were dragging. Quietly and slowly, she made her way back to the treeline where she had first emerged, missing the gruesome scene nearby entirely.

Zath: Behold, Karo: The only woman in existence who can make Fenix shut the fuck up.Redsnow: That, and, frankly, if Karo doesn't like you that much, your character is probably going to die soon after his acceptance anyway.Keiran: Bad RPs don't get picked, unmemberable RPs get ignored.Zelosse: I don't usually laugh at blatant attitude, but when I do. It usually involves Karo.

Somewhere in his mind - possibly the very rational, computerized part of his mind - said that coughing meant he was still alive, as coughing was very much in the domain of the living. The other, less rational side of him that was driven by human need and desire, didn't care about any of that. It just wanted to cough again. So Victor shrugged off the computerized analysis and proceeded to cough and cough again. He took a deep, wheezing breath. Air, he decided, felt good.

After the initial return to the very minimum requirements life had for him, Victor's thoughts strayed away from survival to try and figure out what the hell had happened that had put him in his current state to begin with. The first thing to hit him, though, was pain. It felt like his entire right side was pierced by hundreds of burning knives, and his shoulder's socket held the same dull ache that he had long ago learned to attribute to dislocation. Which probably meant he had used his railgun. Which probably meant he had been in a fight and had been injured, or worse - captured.

Panicking, he opened his eyes but groaned and closed them tightly again as the sudden influx of information seemed to push all thoughts away and bounce around his head with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

He lay still for a while, trying to ease the headache and breathing deeply for a few moments. He just needed to remember why he was where he was - but when he reached out to access his memory, another wave of nausea and pain quickly forced him to disregard that idea, at least for the time being. Instead, he tried moving a bit, and could feel whatever he was lying on shift beneath him. Sand. And, now that he thought a bit more about it, he could hear the rushing ebb and flow of waves somewhere below him. Had he drifted to shore then? Statistically unlikely, he knew.

It was then he felt something brush against his left shoulder, and he immediately tried to run electricity through his body as a defensive measure. Only, nothing came, which meant he was out of juice. Cautiously, he slowly opened his eyes to see a girl's grubby face, vaguely familiar, looming over him and the twilight sky beyond him.

"Mr. Rail?" she said, sounding uncertain. The girl's voice and the name he used immediately brought Victor's memories rushing back, and groaned a bit. The girl was one of the refugee siblings he had tried to help escape. She and her brother must have helped him to shore - a galling thought. They had hired him to help them, and he was the one who would have died save for them.

"Water," said Victor hoarsely, licking his lips. He watched the girl nod and scamper somewhere before returning with a sandy plastic bottle filled with liquid. The water was warm but tasted more sweet and refreshing than anything he had drunk before, and he took several sips before shaking his head. He lay still for a moment longer before rolling over onto his left side and tried to sit himself up using his one good arm. The girl tried to help him a bit, but Victor waved her off.

After he had successfully sat up, he sighed and took a deep breath before looking around. The two were on some beach, and, judging by the familiar sights, he knew they were not very far from their original neighborhood.

"Did you get me here?" he asked, glancing at the girl. She nodded, and Victor asked, "How?"

The girl pointed at a large piece of boat that was sitting several yards away from them.

"You lifted me onto that?" Victor asked incredulously.

"M-my b-brother," she said, looking down and away. "He's stronger when I help."

The girl continued staring somewhere else and did not answer. Only then did Victor see the little mound beyond the girl, marked only by a large stone, and her dirty hands that bled from the fingernails.

"I'm so sorry," said Victor softly, after a moment. The girl tried to hide her crying, but Victor could see the tears from behind the girl's silver bangs and the heavy sobs that wracked the body. Twins and a shared telepathy and telekinesis... Victor had no way of knowing how losing someone like that could have felt. At a loss, he did the only thing he could think of and lifted his good arm and pulled the girl close, letting her cry upon his shoulder. The girl only began to cry harder and continued to do so long after it became dark. Sobs turned to whimpers, and whimpers eventually turned to sounds of fitful but extremely exhausted sleep.

The girl did not wake up from that sleep, no matter how Victor tried to save her with what little power he could recover.

Eventually Victor buried the body next to her brother's on that same beach. He had gotten used to digging graves, some numb part of his mind noted. His powers had recovered enough to used the self-powered laser that had managed to survive his failure at drowning to death, but when he tried to engrave the stone with it, he realized he did not know either of their names. Their true names, not the ones he had given to them so he could identify their letters telling him they had arrived safely.

So instead he sat and prayed for a long time, stopping only to sleep and eat to recover his strength. Eventually he left the graves, taking with him two more souls he needed to carry upon his shoulders, and any who talked to that remote place would see a small stone with a flat, smooth surface.

Here lie two angels forever bound by love - may He guide their steps to His kingdom.

His own steps, littered with gravestones, seemed to have no direction. He walked away from the gravestones in the general eastern direction, knowing full well Sentinel presence would get stronger the farther he headed inland. He needed to find someone else to help, even if he died doing it.

Snap licked over his mouth after he finished his meal. Getting the belly full was a pleasant and content feeling, but his head started to hurt as the adrenaline-rush wore out. It was a numb throbbing; it seemed getting shot in the head left him with a minor concussion. It was getting late, and he started to feel sleepy. Then he suddenly remembered why he came here in the first place. Stupid, selfish idiot! You eat yourself fat, while she is starving! Snap lashed at the tree trunk in frustration, before jumped off.

Snap dropped down on the ground, and his brain felt like it would slip out through his nose. All that jumping, climbing, running made his headache even worse, and left him somewhat dizzy. He walked to the bush were the carcass dropped, and picked it up. He tried to clean it off as well as he could, sweeping off leaves and various critters who already found the meaty feast. He climbed up on a small palm-tree and tore off some fresh leaves. Then put the leaves down on the middle of the clearing making something like a blanket. He put the carcass onto the leaves and took the fruits he collected on his way back from his mouth. They were slippery and slimy from his droll, as he needed both hands for climbing and was forced to carry them between his jaws. He tried to clean them a little, but his hands were quite grubby so he even made it worse. She will peel them anyway.

Snap left his ‘presents’ on the place where Ben and Hitsui met earlier, and climbed up on a nearby tree. He settled on a high branch, what was strong enough to carry his weight, and from where he had a good look over the clearing. He felt quite tired and sleepy; his head was a throbbing mess. The dizziness was getting worse as well, so he decided to spend the rest of the night there. His friends were safe, he got her some food, it was a good night, and he deserved his rest.

Despite his best efforts, Benjamin hadn't found a single trace of Hisui among the carnage. He breathed a sigh of relief knowing that she wasn't among the slaughtered; for had this been an illusion, she'd have revealed herself to him by now. Among the butchered mutants he did make a peculiar find, whatever had assaulted the company had red scales. The color looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn't place how or why exactly. With his curiosity sated, Ben removed a few items from the Primers corpses, anything I.D. or key related he took and added to his collection. He then levitated all the weapons and ammo among them and took to the air once again.

With the weapons in tow he landed on the beach, near the small cargo vessel. He noticed the trail through the sand as he flew over head, but seeing sea turtles at this time of year was somewhat odd for someone who knew their breeding cycles. Ben disregarded it as he'd seen nature do much weirder things. Looking over the cargo he saw that it had been broken into already and besides the packing material it was empty. There was a smaller crate yet to be unloaded, so he did the honors. Before checking his bounty however, he loaded the larger container with the weapons he found earlier and put it back on the ship. From there he ripped a hole through the bottom of the hull and pushed it back out to sea to watch it sink into the abyss. Without further ado he pried the top off the box and cast it aside. He found rations and ammo cartridges. Ben loaded his pants and stuffed the ammo into his shoulder bag. Beneath that he found a disassembled grenade launcher and instructions for dummies.

Hiram waited amidst the snow, his breath slimmed down to a whisper of itself, slowly tracking the accusing finger of his rifle over each of the soldiers’ heads. The three humans were doing most of the work, which seemed primarily to consist of screaming at the huddle of refugees and occasionally patting them down with the less dangerous ends of their guns. The two mutants stood somewhat apart from it all, as though they were somehow above the tiresome physicality of the whole thing. The one standing a bit further back was the prime candidate for officer, by Hiram’s reckoning – the way he watched the proceedings reminded him of an eagle perched high over a den of tiny mammals, certain of its higher place on the predator-prey ladder.

Suddenly, the shouting peaked. Hiram swivelled his sights over towards the source of the din. One of the humans was dragging something from the crowd, his grunts of effort implying some resistance. The mutants were getting involved now, barking out an alternating string of threats and orders. Eventually, a young, spindly shape was bodily heaved from the mass of refugees, the giant coat upon its back hanging just loose enough to reveal an additional quartet of arms protruding just under the usual pair. It was a boy, probably fifteen to sixteen, somewhat local in appearance and densely muscled despite the obvious signs of malnutrition. In all likelihood, his mutation had optimized him for the purpose of climbing and tumbling – a useful talent to have around for a refugee band. Or for an army.

There was more shouting, more threats and orders. Someone in the huddle was screeching words that, out of practice as he was with the language, Hiram couldn’t entirely discern. The mutants were getting louder, and redder, and harsher. Hiram’s finger slipped down to the trigger…

Tires grumbled against the snowy earth as the truck lurched backwards. For a moment, everything stopped, and Hiram might have actually loosed a tiny little smile.

The officer unfurled into a blizzard of focused rage. He screamed and gestured for his stupid incompetent animal men to get after it, and after a second or two to process it all they did. Hiram waited. He waited till they’d gathered their wits and were pelting through the snow after the runaway truck. He waited till it juddered to a stop among the undergrowth and its pursuers began to catch up. He waited till they were slowing to a trot, the adrenaline fading, their breath growing ragged.

The officer was breathing his rant back in when Hiram pulled the trigger. His throat exploded in mid-curse, a round burrowing straight through the soft tissues of his oesophagus and lodging itself somewhere in his spinal chord. He went down like the string beneath a popped balloon. Hiram swerved over towards the second mutant and fired again, but the man was faster than he’d expected, hurling himself into the cluster of refugees. The bullet lashed through the air and carved a tiny bowl into the temple wall behind him.

The humans had stopped now, glancing feverishly across the trail and over the treeline. Chances were, they were never really soldiers. They were panicking. They were on the razor edge between running and hoping their remaining taskmaster went the way of his superior, or standing their ground and waiting for orders to come. Hiram wasn’t going to let them come to a decision.

The third shot snapped over the landscape, opening a bloody hole in one of the unfortunate humans’ heads, in between his eye and his nose. His body tipped backwards and folded up into the snow.

The two remaining men yelped in horror and veered off in separate ways, plunging into the trees. They were probably out of the equation until a voice sounded over their panicked breathing. Hiram angled his gaze back towards the refugees. Kicking and pushing his way through them was the surviving mutant, bellowing and pointing frantically in his direction. He’d been spotted.

He glanced back at the humans. Sure enough, they were diverting their course, trampling through the undergrowth towards him. One of them fired off a shot, but Hiram saw it going wide before the man had even pulled the trigger.

Leaving the rope, he pulled himself up and bolted down under the low-hanging branches that seemed to reach out from everywhere, leading them further into the withered forest. The moment he was out of sight he hunkered down at the base of one of the sturdier trees. He could hear them converging on his general position – the two humans on his right, closer, and the mutant way further back on his left.

As the thudding of boots closed in he darted out, swinging the rifle about in a precise arc. The butt of the weapon thundered through the unsuspecting nose of the man closest, who flailed backwards in a blur of blood and wheezing, tipping the man behind him just off-balance enough to make a difference. Hiram heard his gun hit the snow and caught, in the corner of his eye, the dark shape of the mutant bursting through the trees. He brought the rifle around and fired into the chest of the already-blinded man, shattering his sternum. His comrade-by-collar regained his footing, but not fast enough – Hiram was upon him instantly, smacking the rifle of his hands and bringing the butt of his gun crashing across his chin.

On the very edge of his vision, the mutant was slowing down, stretching out his hands. As the human before him crumbled to the ground, Hiram grasped a hold of his collar, twisting him about.

There was a sound like a hundred balloons popping at once. Something – pressurized air, psychic force, something – tore into the man, bursting through him with enough force to hurl his body, and Hiram with it, to the ground. As they hit the snow he felt what was left of the man’s ribcage patter down through collapsed lungs, dark red warmth flowing from a torso that was only partly there. A booming, sharp pain suffused his chest. Even through the shield of meat and bone that had been the mutant’s subordinate, Hiram had felt the blast almost like a hammer blow, forcing the breath from his lungs and bruising him down to the marrow.

Sucking his breath back in, he rolled out from under the decimated corpse, just in time to hear the pop-pop-popping rain down and turn what was left of the man into a ragged smear. Leaving his rifle in the snow, he bolted for cover. Behind him, he heard the mutant shout something in what sounded like Taiwanese, before the air burst into popping again and the tree he’d just ducked past split open.

The mutant trudged after him. He was walking slowly now, with confidence and pride. He’d noticed the rifle left upon the ground, and he knew his own powers well enough to know that the interloper had already taken quite a beating. Whoever had turned up to ruin his day, they were disarmed and damaged, and on the retreat. He no longer had to exert himself, just wait for his prey to tire.

He didn’t expect his prey to come back. He didn’t expect Hiram to circle around under the cover of the undergrowth. And he certainly didn’t expect to feel the cold touch of a revolver against the back of his head before everything became nothing.

The mostly-decapitated corpse of the mutant slouched down amongst a withered helix of roots, blood steaming through the snow. Hiram holstered his revolver and, without thought, stooped to rummage through its coat, looking for anything of use. As expected, he didn’t carry a gun, but the other bodies would have plenty of ammunition on them. Hiram was pleased enough with the knife sheathed upon the man’s belt, which – with a bit of cutting and tearing – fitted quite well around his arm.

He retrieved his rifle and plodded back towards the path, where the truck sat half-submerged in the treeline.

“Tag!” He raised his voice over the absent growl of the vehicle’s engine. A few refugees glanced his way, but most of them were too busy with scrabbling up their few possessions. “You can come out now.”

Hisui turned back as she heard movement back at the boxes behind her, and a brief smile flitted across her face as she saw Ben rummaging through the crate she had left behind. She was at the edge of the forest, a truly strange place for sea turtles to be found, and out of season, so she found it surprising that Ben merely glanced at the turtles and dismissed them just as quickly. Obviously she was going to need to do more to get his attention. The turtles turned away from the jungle and jumped up onto their hind flippers, turned towards each other and began dancing a waltz.

It looked absolutely ridiculous, and Hisui thought it looked dumb as all get out, but if it got the job done, all was well. Not to mention, after the purple panthers, most of the lower-ranking Primers believed the woods were haunted by some unseen force. And in a way, they were right. She had a feeling the ones in charge knew it was the work of another mutant, that much was obvious from the weapons that she and Ben had just liberated. She frowned though, as Ben was still too busy to look up from the box, and brought her fingers to her mouth before letting out a sharp whistle. That ought to pull his attention away from the box long enough for him to realize she was there.

Zath: Behold, Karo: The only woman in existence who can make Fenix shut the fuck up.Redsnow: That, and, frankly, if Karo doesn't like you that much, your character is probably going to die soon after his acceptance anyway.Keiran: Bad RPs don't get picked, unmemberable RPs get ignored.Zelosse: I don't usually laugh at blatant attitude, but when I do. It usually involves Karo.

Benjamin was oblivious to the scene unfolding at the jungle's edge behind him. He was sure Hisui was somewhere nearby, but once she went into hiding, there was no finding her unless she wanted to be found. He was enjoying the view of the moonlit sea swallowing the small war vessel. He even cracked a smile in light of the victory, albeit a tiny one. When the sharp whistle cut through the air he turned around immediately. Hisui had startled him, but before making a mini dust storm he realized who the noise had come from. He manage to relax a little seeing that the sea turtles were, in fact, Hisui in disguise.

"Whoa, wasn't expecting that." Ben said seeing the large mini gun on her back. "Heh, puts this one to shame." He said holding up the discombobulated grenade launcher. Without saying more Ben began to hold up the weight of the mini gun with his TK as that much couldn't be good for her back. "I thought those turtles where a little out of place,. Oh well, let's get outta here shall we?" he said. Ben wasn't sure if he should tell her about the massacre he had just left, but getting back into the safety of the jungle was his current goal. Someone would be by to investigate eventually and he didn't want to be there when they did arrive.

Maddy stared coldly at the diminishing dot that was Victor. She'd followed him after being chased away from the sea port, damn psychics. Anyway, she'd moved on as always, keep on going lest your past catches up with you. She's found this strange man kneeling in front of some strange landmark, a gravestone she guessed by the man's mannerisms. Of course, the man's distress wasn't a mark of his innocence, you got some real oddbods in the outlands now, ones who would kill and skin a man, laughing joyully one moment and huddle in the blood pool, weeping hysterically a moment later. She walked down and looked curiously at the gravestones, a purely detached expression of mild interest on the six year-olds face. After a minute, she shrugged, patted the gravestone and walked after Victor. After about an hour or two of walking till her bare feet were sufficiently sore and scuffed looking, she sat down and started bawling her eyes out, as loud as she could. It would be rather annoying, and embarressing, if the strange man didn't hear her.

=-"I'm sophisticated, charming, suave, and debonair, Professor. But I have never claimed to be civilized."

Tag had been watching for the latter half of Hiram's fight. It wasn't any sort of ill intent that kept her from helping her host, more curiosity than anything. Hiram was different, not quite the same way Tag was, but there was something about the man that made Tag wary. It wasn't that she was afraid of being murdered by him, it was that she didn't know what he would do next. He was worse than just dangerous, he was a mystery.

These thoughts rolled in Tag's head as Hiram fought off the soldiers. She watched him plant the gun behind the mutant's head and stared unblinking as the mutant's forehead burst and flowered open.

She could make a life here in the mountaintops. Tag knew she could make her routine anywhere she needed to and that was all she really wanted. Routine meant safety. Boredom meant nothing to her, meaning or purpose never even entered Tag's train of thought. She lived just to live and the best way to accomplish that was by claiming her territory once and for all the same way she did in The Alley.

Hiram was calling for her now and Tag hesitated.

Would Mount Kailash be her new Alley? The Alley which Tag had been forced out of by the soldiers? The soldiers had smashed the buildings and shot anyone who crawled out. A few people they had clamped in chains and carried off. Tag escaped them and she did not doubt she could escape again.

But she did not think that she would ever have her Alley back, with its quiet routine of eat and sleep. The soldiers were already here in Mount Kailash. It was not safe.

It was the most Tag's brain ever had to work in years and the strain was beginning to build. It had been a full second since Hiram called for her.

Finally she stood from the brush and walked over to Hiram. The blood on her hands (the men's) and her head (hers) had dried and mixed with the dirt till it looked like grime. She was as filthy as her first day out of the Alley. Tag stood in front of Hiram and held out her hands, palm up.

Hisui sighed in relief as Ben used his powers to support the massive gun hanging from her shoulders. She gave her old partner a look, one of those ones that seems to speak volumes. This look in particular seemed to be full of mocking sarcasm, she was already too tired to point out that no kidding, sea turtles near the jungle in the wrong season were a little out of place. She turned and trudged into the jungle, along the same path she had taken to get to the beach before, and her going was much easier now that Ben was helping.

Soon enough, Hisui and Ben were back at the clearing they had been in earlier, and Hisui stopped dead in her tracks the minute she cleared the tree line. Something or someone had been there while they had been gone. There was half a bloody animal sitting on some fruit and leaves in the center of the clearing. While Hisui had traveled in plain view with Ben on the way back from the beach, she once again vanished from view. "Looks like I'll be accompanying you to your camp first tonight. Your people will need to be ready to move soon." She however, was going to be finding a new camp that very night.

Zath: Behold, Karo: The only woman in existence who can make Fenix shut the fuck up.Redsnow: That, and, frankly, if Karo doesn't like you that much, your character is probably going to die soon after his acceptance anyway.Keiran: Bad RPs don't get picked, unmemberable RPs get ignored.Zelosse: I don't usually laugh at blatant attitude, but when I do. It usually involves Karo.

Benjamin grinned mischievously at the sight of the look Hisui gave him for pointing out the obvious hole in her use of illusive imagery. He followed as she turned back toward the jungle and proceeded to return from where they came. All the while he concentrated, he could easily manipulate the gun while keeping his major focus was on detecting even the slightest movement within a wide personal radius around them as they traveled. In the dead of night his eyes where of little use to him, and the moonlight barely allowed one to navigate the overgrown forest. Using his mind he could at least get a clear picture of the dimly lit and densely wooded surroundings they had grown accustomed to trekking through.

When they got back to the clearing Ben stopped shortly after Hisui froze and vanished from view. What they happened upon seemed to be either something's stash or a timely placed care package judging from how the items had been arranged. After inspecting the carcass more closely, he realized it was the same thing that had hit the ground so loudly earlier. He looked up towards the tree tops as his mind tried to create an image of a creature he wasn't sure even existed. This was getting a little weird, but he figured it best not to bring up his suspicions until they where closer to his camp. Ben looked to where he last saw Hisui and replied to her statement. "We'll be ready to go by first light, but for tonight it seems you'll finally accompany me back to my humble, jungle abode." "If only for a moment." he smiled as the thought crossed his mind. Without any further delay he began moving toward his rebel camp.

Snap felt tired and sleepy. He relaxed as he lay over the branch of the tree at the edge of the clearing. It became more and more of a bother to keep his eyes open, as he waited for Hitsui to return. Finally someone came, but it wasn’t the girl. Snap’s attention rose, but moving a muscle seemed too much to ask. He watched the figure to approach his gifts, and recognized Ben after some time. His former friend looked up to him, almost staring directly at him, but he didn’t seem to notice him. Ben left after a while, and Snap didn’t see any point in following him.

It started to dawn when Snap woke up. He felt much better, his wasn’t dizzy anymore. He grabbed the branch, and stretched his limbs and muscles, then shook his head violently. No pain, no nausea; it seemed his head injury mostly healed. He jumped off and hopped from branch to branch as he descended. The carcass from yesterday was still in the middle of the clearing; a little stale but good enough for breakfast. Snap quickly gobbled it up, and tried to remember the events of last night. Ben seemed to mention something breaking camp in the morning, and Hitsui was probably with him. They probably could use some help.

It was easy to track the two through the jungle. It was not possible to move without leaving tracks so heavily loaded. Despite the fact that Ben used his abilities, and the gun and ammo didn’t have to be dragged through the undergrowth, there plenty of broken twigs and torn leaves just from the sheer size of the objects. Besides Ben moved a group, and a group was really hard to hide. They were loud, needed to use fire and other human-specific things which had really particular smell. Snap managed to find them earlier, and he will find them again, no doubt.

Later that morning he did find the group. He didn’t go near, but could hear and smell them. He decided to get close, but the idea seemed quite risky in broad daylight. His red scales didn’t exactly blend in with the surrounding. So he made a detour to a nearby waterhole he knew of. There he lay into the mud, and covered his body as much as possible, before he rolled in a heap of dead leaves for a while. After acquiring that greenish-yellowish-brown color, he found his camouflage appropriate, so he made hast to catch up with the group. He climbed a tree and started to move through the treetops. This way he could move faster, have a better overview of the area, and it people tend to look forward rather than upward while walking. So he finally started to follow the group of mutants, while trying to stay out of sight, but have a good look on them, and the terrain they were moving through.

Ben kept to his word and lead the way to his campsite. As they approached, two or three figures began to stir while the remaining rebels slept quite soundly. When they realized it was only their leader returning from a night's patrol they returned to their rest. It was a heart warming scene and looking at them you might think a semblance of peace was among their troubled lot. Ben then walked over to the only empty tent and laid down for a nap.

At first light, Ben awoke to Luna licking his face as she did each morning. A few of his followers were already up and tending to the camp and some remained fast asleep. Shortly upon standing, Ben stomped the ground hard enough to create a small tremor that shook the whole camp. A few moments later all eyes where on him.

"Last night a friend and I intercepted a special delivery. After these long years, it seems they can no longer ignore us 'ragtag refugee scum' as they like to call us over their comm links. The road has been rough and each loss harder to bear, but In time, with enough training and successful ventures and thinning their numbers a lot more, we can rid our home of those tyrants. Once and for all! Now feast your eyes on the surprise they had in store for us this time." He said as he levitated the mini-gun into the air. "Today we make for a new site, leaving this one as we found it aside from the security measures of course.. Can't make it too easy for 'em. " he finished with a grin

After his morning address, everyone got moving. It didn't take long for the group to break down the camp and pack everything up. They had done so countless times before and everything seemed effortless as they all knew where everything went and everyone agreed to carry something. When they were all done, each person stood side by side with their buddy and formed a double-file line. Ben looked back over the group as Luna made her way over to him at the front of the line with a couple of backpacks hanging over her sides. "Let's move out!" he shouted when she made it to him. She barked twice and began pressing into the jungle ahead of the group just a few feet in-front of Ben.

The caravan of rebel humans and mutants moved as quietly as they could and their pace wasn't very swift. Everyone was alert and watching, while engaging in minor small talk to help pass the time. They were looking for anything that could aid in their survival and to the trained eye there was plenty. As it stood, Ben had no idea where they would stop, but he'd know it when they got there. Til then they moved through the jungle playing a game of follow the leader.

Hisui sighed in relief as she set the giant gun down in the center of the camp and untied the bags of ammo at her waist. Soon after that she vanished from the rebel base, heading into the jungle for a solitary spot where she could sleep safely. She didn't have to go far before she found a suitable clearing to spend the night in. Tucking herself in underneath a rather large fern, she quickly fell asleep.

Soon enough, she was up again. The sun wasn't up yet, but it would be soon. Hisui reasoned it was because she was shaken. Someone, something, had found her the day before. The animal carcass and fruit were proof enough of that. She wasn't safe in this section of the jungle, and was itching to move on. Moving quietly through the undergrowth, Hisui backtracked to the edge of the clearing Ben's group was camped out in. As she expected, it was still rather quiet there.

Soon enough though, dawn began to break through the thick trees, and with it the camp began to wake. Hisui vanished, leaving only a heat shimmer in the air where she stood so that Ben would know she was already there and waiting. It wasn't long before Ben was up, using his abilities to wake everyone in the camp so he could tell them about the previous night. She wished he hadn't mentioned her, even in passing, because the last thing she needed was one of his more curious followers trying to find out who she was. As always, she watched quietly as the group began breaking camp. They were going to need to head deeper into the jungle, which meant supplies from Mickey were going to be more important to the little group than ever before, and Hisui was going to have to walk a lot farther for her own supplies.

She waited for a minute or two after the last pair in line had disappeared into the trees before she started off, acting as a rearguard. She walked behind them all to make sure that no Primers were following, and to erase tracks of the group's passing in case they got too obvious. Scuffing out that many footprints could be a bit of a pain sometimes though. Of course, when she did that though, she made sure to erase her own footprints as well. Her pace was slow, since if she walked too fast she would catch up to the back of the line. Hopefully they would put several miles between themselves and the primers before picking a new campsite, but she had no doubt they would be stopping sooner than that for food.

Zath: Behold, Karo: The only woman in existence who can make Fenix shut the fuck up.Redsnow: That, and, frankly, if Karo doesn't like you that much, your character is probably going to die soon after his acceptance anyway.Keiran: Bad RPs don't get picked, unmemberable RPs get ignored.Zelosse: I don't usually laugh at blatant attitude, but when I do. It usually involves Karo.

The sun was high; the time was close to noon already. Snap followed Ben’s group the whole morning. He moved high in the trees jumping from branch to branch, and froze still afterwards in case someone looked up at the noise. There was a pleasant breeze moving the treetops, so the occasionally tilting and shake wasn’t very alerting. Snap knew that Ben had a dog. When he first found the camp Luna made quite a ruckus. Lucky for Snap he was able to get away before he was discovered by the others. So he stayed downwind, to track them by smell while not being discovered. This way he could only follow the end of the group, getting ahead of them would have been too risky.

Snap was hungry as he watched the people walking bellow. He licked over his muzzle, but soon regretted it. The mud on his face tasted awful. He surveyed the area as he was thinking about lunch. Hunting around these people was out of question. He was thinking about leaving them for a while to get something into his belly. His luck seemed to change as he spotted an adult boa a few branch lower. The over ten feet long snake seemed like a decent meal.

He waited till the people were out of sight, and started to descend on the tree trunk, stalking his prey. The snake noticed him, and coiled together and gave out a long hiss. The two predators stared at each other for a while, muscles tensing, and then both lashed out. Snap fell to the ground, into the bushes. The snake was biting his wrist, but Snap managed to lock his jaw close to its head. The boa winded around him, but he could keep it away from his neck. The two struggled for a while, Snap pinning the animals head to the ground so it couldn’t place another bite. Finally the snake’s grip started to loosen as he managed to kill it. With the animal’s head hanging from his mouth Snap raised his head from the bushes and took a look around. The snake was already wound around him, so he just adjusted it a bit, so it won’t hinder his movements. He decided to follow Ben’s group on the ground from now on, as it would be problematic to jump around with such a load. He started to move in the undergrowth to catch up with them, they should stop to eat soon, then he would time for lunch as well.

Step by step they pressed ever further into the foliage. Benjamin cut his path as Luna ducked vines and branches. While she did stray from time to time, it was nothing for Ben to guide her back to the path he was walking. Even if he didn't, she knew and trusted most the people in their camp and would fall back in line eventually. They had been walking for a while now as high noon had set in and he felt they'd put enough distance between them to make a pit stop. Before he got the chance to stop the group he felt a small tug on his cargo pants. One of the young ones apparently had to go pretty badly. Ben stopped, holding up his right hand. He then closed his eyes to concentrate and proceeded to scan the area for threats.

Once his worries were extinguished he turned to the group of rebels. "We'll rest here for a moment, there's a few fruit trees and a stream further ahead. I need a pair of scouts to help me restock. Only restroom tents, and cold goods. We'll have a proper meal to christen our new site when we get there."

With that Ben started off into the jungle with all the canteens and a mini cooler. He made Luna stay with the group to watch over them and two of the men in the group followed quickly behind him. They soon vanished from sight and commenced their foraging. While the two scouts collected various berries, citrus, and other non-poisonous delectables, he simultaneously filled all the canteens by stringing them together and submerging them for a few seconds.

After a while they returned to the group with a nice bounty and took a load off. Watching them all trying to enjoy life and survive was always humbling for him. It put a smile on his face knowing he could make a difference in somebody's life so profoundly. It simply took a colossal failure of apocalyptic proportions, but he was proud they chose him to be their leader.

Vision found Dr. Doom in his throne room, as he always was when he summoned her. Atypically, however, he was not sitting contemplatively on his throne, nor did he have a goblet of wine his hands. Rather, he was out on the balcony, looking out with his arms crossed and his back to her. He did not respond when the young woman entered the room, and when she announced her presence, he continued to remain unresponsive. Not an unusual occurrence. Doom would acknowledge one whenever he pleased. Appropriately, her and her canine companion remained in the room and bowed toward him. They wouldn't dare step out onto the balcony where he was without his express permission.

“Doom is pleased,” he finally said, slightly turning his head toward her, “ … but not satisfied.” He turned around to face Vision, looking down upon her as he did so. A feat he could easily do even if she was standing. He gave her no reason to cease bowing with his penetrating, apathetic gaze. “You have done all that I've expected of you. That is to be commended. Doom expects no less. However, the resistances continue to exercise their incredible ability to fail.” There was a distinct edge of irritation in the Latverian ruler's voice. Although it was not directed at her, it would no doubt make Vision flinch. If Doom was feeling any emotion below neutral, it wasn't a good thing for anyone.

“Latveria has bequeathed the rebels many gifts, and still they continue to squander them and get crushed like the bugs they apparently are.” Doom raised his hand out and closed it into a tight fist, no doubt imaging himself grinding away the source of his scorn. “All but one,” he remarked, sounding almost pleased. He opened his hand, and suddenly a holographic globe appeared. It then enlarged slightly, and highlighted a small spot within the area known as 'Sector 29' by the Sentinels. “There is a group there that has been operating to my satisfaction,” he said, plainly. Vision would be well aware of it. The resistance group known as the Kresnik was nigh legendary, being the sole reason why their hold on Sector 29 was tenuous as best. It was almost amusing Doom had merely found their performance acceptable.

Doom then closed his hand, causing the globe to vanish, and crossed his arms again. “It is time you be put to more proper use. Others will deal with the riff raff you have been working with. You are now in charge of aiding the resistance in Sectors 29 and 31. You will continue supplying them with the same weaponry as the others, but I also expect you to aid them more... directly,” he instructed her. This would be somewhat of a surprise for her. She had never been instructed to take part in the resistance directly. His reasons were obvious though. Doom needed someone to keep tabs on this rising power. “Do whatever needs to be done, but keep a close eye on these mutants. They must know who they owe their gratitude to. You are the will of Doom.”

The monarch then turned back around, and away from his soldier. He had given all the orders he had wanted to give. He would not ask her if she understood, nor provide her with any other information. He expected her to do exactly as he commanded, and nothing less.